If there was ever any doubt that the Raptors were talking to the Portland Trail Blazers about trading Vince Carter, well, there isn't anymore. Blazers general manager John Nash was quoted yesterday in the Portland Tribune admitting that the two sides had talked. And the deal apparently centres around a Carter for Shareef Abdur-Rahim trade, with various other players thrown in here and there.

"So far, they have rejected our proposals," Nash said of the Raptors. "They are not as interested as we are at this point."

According to yesterday's Orlando Sentinel, there has been talk of a deal between the Raptors and the New York Knicks involving Carter and New York's Allan Houston and Kurt Thomas.

HOT AND COLD

The Raptors are certainly a tough team to figure out. On one hand, they have defeated some of the best teams in the NBA this season, including Detroit, San Antonio and Miami, but have lost to the likes of Washington and New York.

Carter says that has to stop.

"We want to continue to play together and play hard against the other teams, the teams that aren't considered the best," he said. "We rise to the occasion when we play these great teams. But we need to put emphasis on just beating teams, it doesn't matter what their jerseys says."

WHAT'S IN A NAME

Someone had some fun in the Raptors locker room on Tuesday night in Miami, writing nicknames of the players above their lockers. Some were obvious: Skip for Rafer Alston, Hoffa for Rafael Araujo and CB4 for Chris Bosh. But others were somewhat puzzling, including Saint for Donyell Marshall and L Dub for Loren Woods.